New Year presidential speeches can inspire, motivate and galvanise national and global public opinions, culminating in great leadership and desired development. In a review of five presidential speeches, China President Xi Jinping's speech is exemplary.
President William Ruto, Xi, YOON Suk-yeol (South Korea), , Vladimir Putin (Russia) and Bola Tinubu (Nigeria) all delivered formal New Year speeches. But what impact do these statements have on national and global audiences?
There are three parameters to assess the effectiveness of these speeches. The first is emphasise on unity and national pride; second is inspiring and motivating citizens to face challenges; and third is addressing international relations.
Xi delivered a concise and precise speech of 1,294 words. He solidifies “Chinese characteristics”, repeating the word Chinese 11 times and China nine times. He says “…we have marched forward with great confidence. China is a great country with a great civilisation.” A detailed elaboration follows with a conclusion “And all this is the source from which our confidence and strength are derived.”
Xi inspires citizens with a detailed analysis of the government’s achievements, repeating the word development 13 times. The gains include the C919 large passenger airliner which entered commercial service, the 16-floor Adora Magic City, China’s 135,00-tonne first homegrown large cruise ship, which can accommodate 5,246 passengers and the Shenzhou spaceships, which are continuing their missions in space.
On foreign policy, he confirms “We will work closely with the international community for the common good of humanity, build a community with a shared future for mankind and make the world a better place for all.” He wishes the world peace and tranquillity.
President YOON’s speech is a lacklustre in an echo chamber. Despite the anxiety of the unification of the Korean Peninsula, and the desired reunion of North and South Korean families, YOON is insensitive.
He attributes the countries poor performance to global polycrisis. Nonetheless, he takes responsibility: “I did my best to improve your welfare. I tried hard to turn the economy around. But it saddens me that they were not enough.”
Disappointed with the outcome of November 28 World Expo 2030 secret ballot, where Riyadh carried the day with 119 votes, trouncing Busan’s 29 and Rome’s 19, he had no words for the global community. According to JoongAng Daily analysis, Korea’s public and private sectors, including the President, traveled 495 laps around the globe, a total of 19,891,579km to promote Busan’s bid.
President Ruto’s speech, is akin to a school classroom lecture notes readout. To his credit, he uses the word Kenyans 14 times and Kenya 12 times, but he doesn’t call upon the divided 44 linguistic communities to embrace the Kenyan identity and to remain united.
On inspiration and motivation, the burning issue for Kenyans is high taxation. This is overlooked. It’s fair to inform Kenyans that a government is a parasite, like a tick, which sucks blood from a cow. But the tick knows that if it sucks too much blood, the cow will die, leading to its own death.
As the seventh largest economy in Africa, which wants to expand, Ruto missed an opportunity to prepare Kenyans to take advantage of the ongoing integration of Africa and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
As we all know, Putin’s hands are full. The Russian Federation this year has taken the baton for the chairmanship of Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as BRICS. Presidential elections are in March this year, and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war is depleting resources.
So, Putin being a man of less words and more action focuses on unity. The key words are: family, motherland, love, support, citizens, people, friends, future, happy, Russia, united and history. These are repeated three or more times in his short speech.
President Tinubu’s speech is a rumble, synonymous with presidential campaigns-excuses, sweeping statements, aspirations and pledges. The most interesting paragraph is this: “While I believe the rich should enjoy their legitimately-earned wealth, our minimum bargain must be that, any Nigerian that works hard and diligent enough will have a chance to get ahead in life. I must add that because God didn’t create us with equal talents and strengths, I can not guarantee that we will have equal outcomes when we work hard.”
In conclusion, New Year presidential statements should capture pertinent public concerns, preach peace and unity, inspire and motivate, as well as address pressing global and national issues.
The writer is the first Kenyan ambassador to the Republic of Korea and specialist of Korean Peninsula Studies. [email protected], +254 722 511805.